Rise In Homeschooling Expected to Continue

November 18, 2016

Carolyn Williams works on a history lesson while homeschooling her daughter Jordan, 11, in their Spotsylvania County home on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. Williams also homeschools her 16-year-old twin sons Steaven and Nikko.Peter Cihelka/staff photographer

A report released this month shows that homeschooling doubled in size and increased in diversity between 1999 and 2012.

The Department of Education report shows the number of homeschooled students in the U.S. rose from approximately 850,000 to approximately 1.8 million during that period. Will Estrada of the Home School Legal Defense Association explains some of the reasons why.

“The biggest reason was concern about the public school environment,” he says. “I think we’re seeing that this report is showing that parents are concerned about the schools, the level of academic instruction, safety, lack of religious instruction.”

Estrada predicts the next report, due out in September 2017, will be just as encouraging as this newly released report.

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